1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to personal computers adapted to receive adapter cards and, in particular, to apparatus for facilitating the installation and removal of adapter cards.
1. Background
Most personal computers are designed to receive adapter cards to permit flexibility of selection of subsystems such as those for video, sound or telephone connection. The mechanics of receiving adapter cards has not changed significantly from that employed in the original IBM personal computers introduced in the 1980 time frame. One end of the elongate card has an L-shaped metal bracket with a tab at one end and a notch at the other end in the short leg of the L.
The tab is received in a slot and the short leg of the L rests on a frame member. A small screw passes through the notch into the frame member to hold the card in place, At the other end of the card, for long cards, the card edge is retained on either side by projecting guide ribs.
While this arrangement has been satisfactory the cards do come out enough to cause problems--especially during shipping. This is a significant problem as end users expect a working system and do not expect or wish to open the covers and press adapter cards into place.
In some cases displaceable blocking ribs have been placed above the card guides to restrain the cards but these have proven only partially effective and are inconvenient to use. With such ribs, it is difficult to use both hands to insert or remove a card.